Vandal Dominion & Byzantine Christianization

Late-antique migrations and the Gothic, Lombard, Vandal and Avar successor kingdoms.

1 chapter

-238 - 456

Rome seized Sardinia from Carthage in 238 BCE and governed it as a province for nearly seven centuries, overlaying Roman urbanism on Punic and Nuragic foundations. The monumental thermal baths at Forum Traiani (Fordongianus) — Aquae Ypsitanae to the Romans — channel the same hot springs that still flow today, making them one of the best-preserved Roman bath complexes on the island. Roads, aqueducts (like the partially surviving one near Olbia), and forums restructured the island's connectivity. Roman Sardinia was also a grain supplier to the capital, and its interior remained restive — the mountainous Barbagia region takes its name from Roman descriptions of its 'barbarian' inhabitants. Walk the basalt-block streets at Fordongianus and you stand where Roman colonists bathed, traded, and administered an island that never fully surrendered its older identities.

1050 - 1324

As Byzantine authority receded, Sardinia fractured into four autonomous kingdoms — the Giudicati of Cagliari, Arborea, Gallura, and Torres — each ruled by a giudice (judge) with sovereign legal and military powers. These were genuine states with their own laws, the most famous being the Carta de Logu promulgated by Eleanor (Elianora) of Arborea in the 1390s, a Sardinian-language legal code that remained in force under Aragonese rule until 1427. Pisan and Genoese maritime republics entered as allies, merchants, and ultimately colonizers, importing Romanesque architects who left a cascade of two-toned basilicas across the island. Stand before the basilica of Saccargia (consecrated 1116 by the Giudice of Torres) and you see Pisan-Lombard stonework built at the direct commission of a Sardinian sovereign — a distinct fusion of autonomous governance and imported architectural language. The Giudicati era ended when the Aragonese conquest began in 1324, though Arborea resisted until 1409.

-800 - -238

Phoenician merchants founded coastal trading posts from the 8th century BCE, establishing cities at Tharros, Nora, and Sulci (modern Sant'Antioco) that became full Punic colonies after Carthage took control around 550 BCE. These settlements layered over or alongside Nuragic communities — Nora's earliest Phoenician inscription is the oldest in the western Mediterranean. At Monte Sirai, a Punic hilltop fortress above Sulci commands the coastal plain, its walls and necropolis still traceable. The Punic period introduced urban planning, written language, and new religious practices (Tanit worship, tophet sanctuaries) that coexisted with and reshaped indigenous traditions. Stand at Tharros on the Sinis Peninsula and you look over Punic-era streets, a tophet, and Roman reoccupations — a palimpsest of Mediterranean colonization that the sea is slowly reclaiming.

1324 - 1720

The Crown of Aragon conquered Sardinia from 1324, establishing the 'Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica' as a constituent of the Aragonese confederation. The Battle of Sanluri in 1409 crushed the last Arborean military resistance, and by 1420 the Giudicati were extinguished. Aragonese rule brought Iberian administrative structures, Catalan-language governance, and — crucially for festival history — the equestrian jousting traditions that evolved into Sa Sartiglia. This Oristano carnival, governed since the Aragonese period by the Gremi (artisan guilds), features the vestizione (ritual investiture) of Su Componidori and a star-tilting ride whose documented origin is Iberian; the depth of any older agrarian substrate remains debated among scholars and guild custodians. The most visible Catalan imprint is Alghero (L'Alguer), where the population still speaks Alguerés (a Catalan dialect) and celebrates Holy Week processions with Catalan-language hymns — a living linguistic enclave within Sardinia. The Savoyards took formal control in 1720, but Catalan cultural infrastructure endured.